Isaiah additoe



(No Model.) I. A. BEALS.

SHOE.

No. 297,103. Patented Apr. 22, 1884.

N. PETtRs, Plwloidllogmplmr. WJShinglOlL D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ISAIAH ADDITON BEALS, OF BROOKTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

SHOE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 297,103, dated April22, 1884.

Application filed January SI, 1884. (No model.)

To aZZ whom, it may concern..-

Be it known that I, ISAIAH ADDITON BEALS, of Brockton, in the county ofPlymouth, of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a new anduseful Improvement in Shoes; and I do hereby declare the same to bedescribed in the following specification and represented in theaccompanying drawings, of which Figures 1 and 2 are opposite sideelevations of a shoe containing my invention, the nature of which isdefined in the claim hereinafter presented.

In this shoe the buttoning-fly is attached to the upper along the crownor median part of its instep, without extending from thence up to theleg portion to its top, such leg portion above the said fly beingclosed, except at its mouth, and being formed in whole or in part ofleather, or constituting in whole or in part the front of an elasticgore. leg portion closed down its front necessarily must have in suchleg portion, and from its mouth downward, one or more elastic gores, toenable it to be expanded while the shoe may be in the act of being drawnon the foot of a person, and subsequently to contract to fit the ankleand leg of such person. In pulling on such a shoe the instep is oftensubjected to great strain both lengthwise and widthwise of it. A flyapplied to it as hereinafter described operates in a measure as a stayor re-enforce to it, besides answering other purposes, as hereinafterexplained.

In the drawings, the upper of the shoe is shown at A as not only havingits leg and ankle portion provided with an elastic gore, a, carriedaround the front and down within each side of such leg and ankleportion, but as having a buttoningfly, b, to its instep portion, suchbuttoning-fly being extended, as usual, from the middle of the instep ofthe upper down on one side thereof, and provided with button-holes c, toengage with buttons cl, attached to the said instep portion. Thisbuttoning -fly is not to extend upward to A shoe with its the top of theleg portion, or any material de- 1 gree above the instep.

Instead of buttons and button-holes, there may be other suitableseparable fastenings to the shoe-upper and to the lower part of the flyto connect them.

The pulling straps and loops are shown at c and f, one being attached tothe front and the other to the rear part of the leg portion, the objectof the buttoning-fly and buttons being not only to give a shoe that isclosed down the front of the leg the appearance of what is usuallytermed a button -boot, which opens through. the front of its leg, but toenable the shoe to be made to properly fit the instep of the wearer, forwhen the shoe may be either too tight or too loose in the instep for aperson the buttons of the fly may be adjusted to cause the shoe, whenthe fly maybe buttoned, to have the desired fit upon the instep.

Shoes whose leg portions are closed up their fronts, (though having insuch portions elastic gores,) and whose insteps are closed, will notsometimes fit the instep of a person, but with my improvement they canreadily be made to fit either a high or low instep; or when they maybecome too loose over the in step through wear they can be caused to fitcloser by moving the fly-buttons to a lower position. In some cases Imake the part of the upper that is below the fly extend and lapunderneath without being fastened to the in step part, to which the flymay be attached.

A shoe having in the leg and ankle portion of its upper an elastic gore,and the said leg portion closed down its front to or about to theinstep, and such instep provided with a fly, and separable fasteningstherefor, to secure it at its lower part to the instep, all beingsubstantially as set forth.

ISAIAH. ADDITON BEALS.

iVi tnesses:

R. H. EDDY, E. B. PRATT.

